North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un is believed to have ordered the execution of his onetime girlfriend, according to South Korea’s largest daily newspaper.

Seoul’s Chosun Ilboreports that the female singer Hyon Song Wol was arrested along with 11 other entertainers on August 17 for filming themselves having sex. They then sold the videos, some of which made it to China. The 12 people, who belonged to prominent performing troupes, were killed by firing squad on August 20 as their families looked on.

Hyon was best known for performing the song “A Girl in the Saddle of a Steed.” Kim met her a decade ago, but his father Kim Jong Il — then North Korea’s ruler — apparently did not approve of the relationship. Hyon subsequently married a member of the military while Kim married Ri Sol Ju, also a singer.

The Korea JoongAng Dailyquoted an intelligence official last July as saying that a rumor had circulated among the Pyongyang elite that Kim had resumed his romance with Hyon after his father’s death. The rumor was so rife that when Kim paraded a mystery woman by his side last year, the media had mistook her for Hyon when it was actually Ri.

A Chinese source told Chosun Ilbo that families of the executed appear to have been sent to prison camps in accordance with the country’s practice of punishing relatives.

I'm assuming that most if not all of the female performers have become the "girlfriends" of powerful unibet generals and bureaucrats. General Kim Jong Il had amassed one of the largest porn collections in the world. It was huge. I'm sure generals have their own bet365 collections as well.

The main fact is to eliminate any competition by absolute power by a dictator. Under Kim, the people have no right at all and live in fear of their life every moment of their entire life. When will it end? No body knows.

I am 99.99% certain this did not happen. Chosun Ilbo published this using a single, anonymous source in China, not the DPRK. This supposedly happened on the 20th. Twelve dancers, singers, and musicians were allegedly machine-gunned in public, in front of up to 100 witnesses. And yet, over ten days later, nothing more has been heard. No other sources, particularly from the DPRK. The entertainers were said to have been from the Wangjaesan Light Music Band and the Unhasu National Orchestra. They are the best of the best of the best in the DPRK. You don't murder twelve entertainers in public and not have there be a public outcry. The DPRK is not as tightly controlled as people imagine. Check out Hyon Song-wol's YouTube videos - "A Girl In the Saddle of A Steed." The one in front of a live audience. What a powerful voice! This is not a woman who makes porn. The story also said the Unhasu and Wangjaesan were disbanded. That's not true. I have a source close to the DPRK music scene who says the Unhasu Orchestra will have a live-streamed concert on October 9th.

Where did all this HAtred come from... or is it a natural thing these types of asians suffer from, hence why Ghengis Khan destroyed China and used his DNA to create the China we know and worry about today !

i dont know why the public is being incited to hate north korea all the time.....maybe the conspiracy theorists are right and you guys work for the banks that are not allowed into iran or n korea? HA HA HA

@leon1376 Yes, in fact this article bothered me, because all other articles i read added that she was falsely accused or was more than likely innocent. But this article read like it is a known truth she did it...

@leon1376@leon1376 Fully agree with your analysis!! Why the hell would somebody let them tape themselves having sex, and specifically in DPRK, knowing that punishment for meaner crimes are very high (not sure if this is a crime in DPRK).

@carolinealicia@leon1376 As far as I can determine, every article has been derived from a single source: the Chosun Ilbo story. Everybody quotes that, with embellishments. Now a reputable publication like Time Magazine would never publish a story like this based on a single, anonymous source, 1500 miles distant from the alleged event. But Time doesn't have a problem quoting a publication that practices that kind of hack journalism. I'm getting the idea that something did happen but we must factor in the inevitable cascade of exaggerations. If there was a "source" in China, then that source hung a few tree ornaments on the tale to get more money out of the reporter. Then the reporter amped it up so his editor would bite. The editor ran with it but juiced the story still more. There's three levels right there. Who knows how many other people in the newsroom contributed their own ideas? After all, it's not like the DPRK is going to sue a South Korean publication for slander. Hence you have the jarring dichotomy of porn plus Bibles. (About 35% of South Koreans are Protestant) This story was a direct kick in Marshal Kim's begonias. It implicated his ex-girlfriend and his wife Ri Sol Ju as well, by speculating that she had something to do with it. At the end of the day I'm working with the premise that 95% of the story is pure fluff.

@Blazer480@leon1376 Thanks, Blazer. All that being said, it seems something did happen. There are a dozen YouTube contributors who post DPRK music. So far, no Moranbong Band; Unhasu Orchestra; or the other two for the September 9th celebration. Marshal Kim Jong Un went to see some little kids singing and a military chorus. There are also a dozen websites that follow the DPRK closely. Nothing. At this point, if I had to guess, I would say that the four groups have been sidelined for a few months to give them time to repent of their sins. But I still refuse to believe the machine-gunning wheeze. We would have heard about that. The NSA would have heard all about that and it would be all over the US press. On August 28, the Sonbon soccer team won a match at which Marshal Kim Jong Un was in attendance. The only problem is, they cheated by using an ineligible player. When officials discovered the team had violated Provision 20, they forfeited the cup and were declared ineligible to compete for six months. But no one was shot. In fact, the KCNA ran an article about it which is unusual in the extreme. I'm a huge fan of the Moranbong Band so the next opportunity for them to perform would by Party Foundation Day on October 10. After that, it will be New Year's. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I know the names of all the girls so we'll see who's missing and who's new.

As to your larger point, Blazer, I'm assuming that most if not all of the female performers have become the "girlfriends" of powerful generals and bureaucrats. General Kim Jong Il had amassed one of the largest porn collections in the world. It was huge. I'm sure generals have their own collections as well. This is why I can't see being shot over possessing or making porn. If my guess is correct, female performers are more or less under the protection of their "patrons" in military and government. Marshal Kim is not going to alienate powerful generals by shooting their girlfriends. But he can kick them to the curb for a few months to get their heads back on straight.

@cboy619@leon1376@Blazer480 You failed to grasp what I said. The NSA listens to everything going on in the world. If 12 people had been machine-gunned in public in the DPRK, the US government would have put it on CNN inside the hour. The US government, working through the American media, would never miss a juicy opportunity like that to slam the DPRK. But there was only the one story in Chosun Ilbo and nothing else. No other news organization offered an independent verification. They kept repeating the Chosun Ilbo story, with exaggerations and embellishments. Nothing in Yonhap. Nothing in Xinhua. Nothing in the Russian media. Asahi Shimbun ran an article a few days ago but they put the number of the alleged deaths at 20 and implicated First Lady Ri Sol Ju. which is an utterly stupid thing to do. The "authorities" in China or the DPRK could never stop news like this from leaking out - if it had actually happened. All kinds of information gets out of the DPRK. I have a hard drive full of the stuff. This is the age of the internet, remember? As far as China goes, trust me when I tell you the Chinese government is not going to go out of their way to protect the reputation of DPRK. There isn't a whole lot of love lost between the two governments. The DPRK thumbs its nose at the Chinese government on a regular basis. As far as me being "naive", I'm into my seventh decade on this planet and I've seen a lot of "stuff" go down. The last thing I am is "naive".